Editors' Review

While the primary function of Microsoft Outlook 2010 is to send and receive e-mail, it offers a host of useful tools to manage tasks, meetings, contacts, and more.

The interface of Microsoft Outlook 2010 is nicely designed, but it is packed with options. Users new to Outlook should expect to spend some time with the Help file to take advantage of all it has to offer. For the basics, including e-mail, the calendar, and tasks, one-click access minimizes the learning curve. While it continues to allow users to receive e-mail from multiple accounts and easily switch from one to the other, this version greatly expands its social media integration. There's more information tied to the people in your contact list than just the typical information of name, e-mail, and other basic contact information. Microsoft Outlook 2010 has also beefed up its spam filtering and we found it to be more effective at blocking phishing e-mail attempts.

Overall, we liked the upgrades and additions to Microsoft Outlook 2010, but this also increases its learning curve and complexity. It's more than the casual user might need to just send and receive e-mail, but for busy executives it's a great tool to manage multiple e-mail accounts, appointments, and tasks.

Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of Microsoft Outlook 2010 14.

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Publisher's Description

Microsoft Office Outlook provides a single, integrated solution for organizing and managing your digital communication tools such as e-mail and instant messaging, along with all your day-to-day information--from calendars and contacts to task lists and notes. Outlook controls the deluge of e-mail, appointments, and contacts, helping you manage your time and tasks more effectively, while making it easier to synthesize information and share it with others.

none - unless you value whimsy and chance over reliability and utility.

Cons

Too many to describe in this space. This program is what my employer relies on for email. Seems like everything that was good about earlier versions of outlook has been bastardized/compromised with "features" that may be flashy, but not intuitive. Worst of all, reliability is totally gone. What used to be a robust and powerful tool is now a POS.On a daily basis, it drops connections to our mail server and /or returns numerous errors, locking the program and forcing re-start of program. Time wasted by program glitches and emails that do not get sent or received when you believe they have been. These are all among the best features this program has to offer.

Summary

Do not buy this program for any kind of enterprise work. Microsoft deserves the big turd award for this product.

None. Worse, it's minus what used to be good. Actually, one star is too many.

Cons

Inefficient.Time Consuming.Not practical.Too busy.Junk mail bait.Stupid interface, almost as bad as the first software designed in 1930s.

Summary

Hard to work with software designed by crackheads. How could anyone at MS have used the former Outlook or Outlook Express and call this piece of junk an improvement? We should call the attorney general of the U.S. and ask them to look into Microsoft's empirical hold on this marketplace. First they design something good, then steal upgrade money from us for broken upgrades, then will want more money from us to fix the bad things they have managed. First, XP was their best OS, and Outlook and Outlook Express their best email programs. Now they shove this POS down our throats along with everything from Milienium, Vista, Win 7 to Win 8. It just keeps getting worse. I unloaded this junk mail program and download Mozilla Thunderbird. It has problems, too, but nothing like this.

Absolutely not a review of Outlook 2010. Its pure Microsoft bashing. I'm not a fan of Microsoft, but i've tried many other mail software, and they basicaly do all the same thing and look the same. In fact, Outlook is probably one of the best for companies. For personal use, well, use the one you want... who care.

So arrohead, just get a fukin brain and stop whinning. Your review should be removed

Too many to list. This program is impossible. I loved Hotmail. You know there is a saying - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Dear God what a mess this program is. I am going back to Gmail. I just have to figure out how to export my mail to Gmail.

Summary

I was FORCED into this program because of the idiots at Microsoft who decided that we needed to "improve" the email program. What they did was create a horrible mess. Good going guys! I and according to what I've read from others, am giving up on Outlook and seeing another email server. Bye.

It depend on what you do with it. I wish you good luck if you want to use something else and try to do a mail merge :).

But if it's for home usage, other programs will do the job too. Better? Not really, just the same.

People are mad because its "Microsoft" and they lose their objectivity.

I'm using Outlook since ages, and i've never got it "not responding". The only time i've seen that kind of behavior is when an add-in is crashing. Could they make it still respond and deactivate the plugin? Probably... but the one to blame is not really Outlook itself, but the Add-In

If my real mailbox were this complicated, I'd use UPS or FedEx exclusively. If Microsoft insists on adding more bells and whistles, it needs to realize that 99.9% of average home users don't need that crap. Performing simple tasks is confusing, difficult to find on a maze of command bar and ribbon options. Give me a 1000 choices, and I bet I can narrow it down to less than a dozen: GET MAIL, WRITE, ADDRESS BOOK, TAG. Oh, wait, that's Mozilla Thunderbird. Phew.

Summary

Steve Jobs was right. Microsoft has no taste. Like other components of MS Office (Excel, Word, etc.), there are way too many features the User has to familiarize himself with. The sad thing is that one has to familiarize oneself with the features, so one can ignore them. Microsoft, you have wasted so much of my productive time!

For your information, Outlook is designed for Businness. It could be used at home, but it's mainly for business. If you want to whine, get a Mac or use Thunderbird, and go over them and write tons of BS just like you did.

Have to have it to open a lot of email or webinars. I don't find it very user friendly. Only use it at work. I use WORKS for everything, it is much easier for me. But at least I have Office so I can open whatever comes at me.

Summary

It's a personal thing. Lots of people love it I'm just not one of them.

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